Face Lift Surgery – What is a SMAS Face Lift

Adrian Richards, Leading Plastic & Cosmetic Surgeon at Aurora Clinics explains the SMAS Facelift (Sub Muscular Aponeurotic System) and who it is suitable for it. For more information on this procedure please visit our information pages or call one of our dedicated patient advisors on 01844 214362

Face Lift Surgery – What is a SMAS Face Lift

Hello, my name is Adrian Richards. I’m a plastic surgeon, and I’m the Surgical Director of Aurora Clinics. My background is in plastic surgery, and now I tend to specialise mostly in cosmetic surgery. So today I’m going to be talking a little bit about the SMAS to try and clarify what it means. SMAS is a term often people use in face lifts when they’re talking about face lifts, and like a lot of face lift terms it’s a bit confusing.

So what is the SMAS? The SMAS, basically the SMAS stands for the superficial musculoaponeurotic system. So I’ll just go through that again superficial musculoaponeurotic system. And this is a long word, and a term coined by a French surgeon called Tessier some years ago. So SMAS, long term, basically it means the layer under the skin. So there is under the skin, which is wobbly, there’s another layer of fascia which is almost like a sheet under the skin. So you can wiggle your skin around, but underneath that there’s another sheet. That is continuous in the neck with the platysma, the muscle in the neck, then it goes into the face into the SMAS and as it comes up into around the skull it turns into the superficial fascia, which is another layer basically of the forehead. So it’s continuous throughout the neck, the muscle of the neck, the face lift the muscle sort of peters out and it’s just like a sheet, that’s the SMAS. And basically in the forehead, it’s the big muscle that lifts the eyebrows the frontalis. So basically it’s a fancy word for a sheet of tissue which lies beneath the skin which comes all the way from the clavicles right up to your forehead.

Why is it important? Well, it’s important because surgeons can modify the SMAS because it’s quite a firm layer remember, so you can lift it up to hold the face lift in position, because you don’t want to rely on the skin because the skin is stretchy. Skin is designed to stretch. So if you just lift up the skin, the skin is going to stretch. Everything will recur. So the thought is that if you support the SMAS, the deeper layer of the face, you don’t have to put tension on the skin because tension on the skin gives you that sort of American windblown look. So everything is supported deeper by the tough layer, and then the skin is free to move out on the top.

So that’s what the SMAS is. We’ll talk a little bit in another video about how it can be modified, what can be done about it, and the different techniques.

But I hope that’s clarified what the SMAS is. Basically, it’s just a layer under the skin which surgeons can modify. If you’d like any more information about facial rejuvenation surgery or any other cosmetic procedures, please either e-mail us, send us your photos, or any other queries and phone us via our number which is 01844, that’s a UK number, 214362. So thank you very much for watching the video. We hope to hear from you soon. Bye-bye.